Happy Saturalia
by Habristiel-Cloth.Cutter
Summary: Vicente comes back to the Sanctuary wet and irritated. Can Antoinetta cheer him up? A couple of shorts mainly based around Vicente. No romance, really, just fluffyness. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Well, I wasn't originally planning on posting this, as I wrote it for fun, but then I thought, what the hey? And if anyone enjoys it, I might write some other stuff, as I do love Vicente. :)_

~X~

Vicente closed the doors to his room, muttering angrily. His latest contract had cost him a large handful of hair, and had ended with him laying face-down in the snow with a dead Khajiit laying on top of him.

"Damned beast..." He muttered, inspecting the bite marks on his arm.

He went to his dresser and pulled a rag out of the drawer, proceeding to wipe the dried blood off of his dagger before going to his mirror and attempting to comb over the bald spot on his head.

Eventually giving up, he changed from his soaked clothing into his night clothes and laid down on the stone slab he used as a bed.

He went over the night in his head.

_It wasn't a total disaster... _He thought. The contract had been fulfilled and that was all that mattered.

A couple minutes later, he was fast asleep, his arms folded over his stomach.

~X~

Antoinetta Marie knocked lightly on the door, then waited for a reply. When it didn't come, she cracked the doors open slightly, peering in.

She had come to get a book he'd borrowed from her, needing it's information for a contract.

Seeing him asleep, she gently pushed the door open, just enough to slip in.

She started searching for the book on a shelf in the corner. She didn't find the book, but she found his dagger. Unsheathing it, she examined the blade. It was stained and beginning to rust. It had been well-used over the years.

Replacing it on the shelf, she continued her search, looking through his desk next. She didn't find it there either, but noticed the damp clothes sitting on the chair.

She then looked through his dresser, finding nothing but a few arrows.

"What is it you're looking for, sister?" A voice asked, making Antoinetta jump. She turned around, he was standing directly in front of her, his face inches from hers.

"Oh! Forgive me for waking you, but I need my book back." She said, looking down sheepishly.

"Of course," he said, going over to his bedside table, opening the drawer.

Antoinetta couldn't help but giggle when she saw the bald spot behind his right ear.

Vicente looked up questioningly, book in hand.

She covered her mouth, feigning a coughing fit.

"Dear brother, how did you lose your--"

"Please don't ask."

He walked over to her, handing her the book. "Is there anything else?"

"No, thank you brother." She said, trying earnestly to hide her smile. "I'll let you rest."

With that, she left, closing the door quietly behind her.

~X~

Teinaava was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, flipping through a book, listening to the Dark Guardian's creaky bones as he made his rounds through the sanctuary.

Hearing light footsteps approach him, he looked up to see Antoinetta smiling down at him.

"Dear sister, is there something I can help you with?" He asked.

Laughing slightly, she asked, "Do you know what happened to Vicente?" as she sat down in the chair opposite him.

"I do not. Is something wrong?" He asked rather worriedly.

"He's missing a chunk of hair, and the clothes he was wearing were wet. Wasn't his contract just outside the Imperial City?"

"Yes, but Telaendril said it snowed there recently."

"Well, that explains the clothes." She looked down thoughtfully. They were quiet for a few minutes.

"I wonder if his fingernails have grown back yet..."

Antoinetta looked up at him.

"Wait, how did he lose his fingernails?"

"Well, from what I gather, a couple weeks ago he had a contract in Bruma. His target was a redguard. He found him in his room at Olav's Tap and Tack. The redguard was expecting him, and they fought. In the struggle, the redguard bit his hand. Ripped three fingernails right off! By the time he got back to the sanctuary it had stopped bleeding, but it looked bad."

"By Sithis!" She exclaimed, "I didn't even notice!"

"And a couple weeks before that, he came in missing his shirt." He smiled, remembering the look on Vicente's face when Teinaava had laughed at him.

Antoinetta chuckled. "He seems to be having a hard time of it lately."

"Yes, it seems that way, but he always returns, so I'm not too worried." Teinaava said, going back to his book.

Antoinetta settled back in her chair, a content look on her face.

For a while, all that could be heard was Schemer shuffling around the room.

"Do they celebrate Saturalia in Black Marsh?" Antoinetta asked suddenly.

"Some do, Ocheeva and I never did though." He said, not looking up from his book.

"Oh..."

Peeking over the top of the book, he asked, "Does something trouble you, dear sister?"

"No, but I think I'm going out. I shouldn't be too long." She rose from her seat, checking her pocket for something.

Teinaava nodded and looked back down, turning the page. He briefly wondered where she was going before becoming engrossed in his book once more.

Before she left, she checked her pocket one more time, counting the gold she had, before she walked out the door.

~X~

Vicente woke up, hearing the doors to his room closing.

He rose and silently ran to get his dagger.

The first thing he noticed was that his dagger was missing. The second thing was that there was a small brown package wrapped in red twine.

He picked up the parcel, examining it before pulling the string off. Cautiously, he folded back the paper.

Inside was a beautiful Elven dagger. He stared, mouth slightly agape, at the amazing weapon he held.

Under the dagger was a small note.

It read,

_I figured you more than deserve this._

_Happy Saturalia!_

_With love, AM_

He smiled as he read it. At times, she could be extremely irritating, especially when she was cooking, but at other times, she could surprise you by being extremely thoughtful.

He wrapped the dagger back up and put it on his bedside table.

Laying back down, he started to wonder why the Brotherhood had never acknowledged Saturalia.

He figured it must have been due to the fact that they were a guild of assassins. Still, it was a lovely gesture, and he was grateful.

As he closed his eyes, he silently thanked the Night Mother for his unnatural kin, before drifting back to sleep.

~X~

_From what I understand, Saturalia is the Tamriel version of Christmas._

_Kinda sappy I suppose, but the Brotherhood is rather sappy...I mean, for a guild of assassins. Please tell me what you think, I love reviews!_


	2. The Next Day

_**This one was a lot of fun to write, so I thought I'd post it. **_

_**Flashbacks in italics...**_

~X~X~X~X~X~

Vicente groaned, reaching up to message his temples. He blearily opened his eyes, briefly wondering why he was laying the wrong way across his bed, with his legs hanging over the side. Moments later though, it simply didn't matter. He had a pounding headache, and as he slowly rose into a sitting position, it only got worse.

He looked down at himself, realizing he was shirtless and still wearing his boots.

He got up very carefully, not wanting to exacerbate his headache any more than he had too. He walked across the room to his dresser, pulling a dark brown tunic out of the second drawer. As he pulled it over his head, he turned to the mirror. His hair was loose, rather than in the neat ponytail he usually kept it in. He also noticed that he had a dark red smudge on his right cheek.

Getting a rag from his dresser, he tried to recall the events of the previous night as he wiped it off.

All he remembered was agreeing to go out for a drink with M'raaj-Dar, Teinaava and Antoinetta Marie.

~O~

_Vicente returned to the sanctuary after finishing a contract._

_He was speaking to Ocheeva when M'raaj-Dar approached them, stumbling a little. It was obvious he'd been drinking._

"_Vishente!" He yelled, throwing his arm around Vicente's shoulders. "Tina and Annie an' me are goin' out fer a drink!" He hiccuped. "Wanna come?"_

_Vicente glanced at Ocheeva, who grinned._

"_You should go, you haven't been out just for fun in months." She said._

_Hesitating, he said, "All right, I suppose it wouldn't hurt." _

~X~

Teinaava and Antoinetta sat at the table in the sanctuary's kitchen. Teinaava watched with concern as Antoinetta leaned over a bowl, groaning every so often.

"Dear sister, will you be all right?" He asked after a moment.

The only response he got was another miserable groan.

_Good enough, _he thought. He got up and poured a glass of water before going to Vicente's room.

~O~

_They sat at a table in the corner of Newlands Lodge. Teinaava and Antoinetta had been waiting for them, and for once, they had worn their regular clothes._

_Antoinetta's cheeks were already rosy red, and M'raaj-Dar was finishing his third pint of ale. Vicente was tentatively sipping a glass of Surilie Brothers Wine, while Teinaava stared distastefully down at the mug of mead in front of him._

"_--And I finally had to kill the Breton too," Antoinetta laughed, "so then, then the guards came, and I had to go out the window!"_

_M'raaj-Dar laughed, then called for another drink. "You're falling behind, old man." He said to Vicente. "Chug it and move on!"_

_Vicente laughed. "You do not chug wine."_

"_Then order some ale and shtop being so," he hiccuped, "so boring."_

_Vicente laughed again, not believing what he'd just heard. "Boring?"_

"_Yeah! All ya do is sit there...sip...sip," he hiccuped again, "sip. I bet I'll be on my shixth drink before you're on yer second."_

_An Imperial waitress brought M'raaj-Dar another drink. "Good lady," he said, "bring thish man a proper drink."_

~X~

Vicente was sitting at his desk, trying to remember all that had happened, but it was only making his headache worse. He looked up when Teinaava entered his room.

"How are you feeling?" Teinaava asked him, handing him a glass of water.

"I've been better," he replied, taking a drink, "but not too bad."

"Good, good. You certainly drank a lot last night, I half expected to find you still drunk, or at least throwing up." Teinaava smiled when Vicente started to massage the bridge of his nose. "Who was that waitress you were flirting with?"

Vicente looked up, smiling slightly. "I was flirting? I can't remember anything."

Teinaava laughed, "I'm not surprised."

~O~

_Teinaava and Antoinetta were still sitting at their table, while Vicente and M'raaj-Dar had gone to sit up at the counter._

"_It's closer to the drinks!" M'raaj-Dar had reasoned._

_Teinaava still hadn't touched the mead in front of him, deciding he'd prefer to stay sober. He'd tuned out of Antoinetta's random chattering long ago. He watched the other two, making sure they didn't do something stupid. It had been three hours, and they were very drunk. Vicente appeared to be flirting with one of the barmaids, and M'raaj-Dar was ordering another mug of ale. _

_**By Sithis, how much more can that damn cat drink?**_ _He thought incredulously. _

_He noticed that Antoinetta had stopped talking. He looked over at her. She was putting on some sort of red lip coloring._

"_Why do you wear that?" He asked, looking disdainfully at the tin. He simply didn't see the point of it._

"_I like it, that's why." She said, shrugging._

_Teinaava sighed, turning back to watch Vicente and M'raaj-Dar again. Vicente ordered another drink, as did M'raaj-Dar. They both yelled "Cheers!" and drank. Vicente got a good deal of his drink on his shirt, he didn't seem to notice though. M'raaj-Dar laughed at him, then grabbed his arm and led him back to the table. _

_As they both sat down, M'raaj-Dar took the lip color tin from Antoinetta. _

"_What's thish?" He asked, spreading some on his arm. _

_Antoinetta snickered. "You put it on your lips."_

"_Really?" He messily applied it to his furry lips. "Mm, it tashtes good."_

"_Gimme that!" Antoinetta snatched the tin from him, putting it in her pocket. _

_Teinaava laughed. "I think it's time we head home."_

~X~

M'raaj-Dar opened his eyes. On his left was his bed, and on his right was a clay tankard. His stomach was in an uproar, and his head felt as if an angry scamp was trying to claw it's way out. He sat up slowly, looking around.

Clumsily, he crawled up onto his bed, wondering why he had been on the floor.

Eventually figuring he must have just fallen off, or simply missed, he reached over for the small mirror on his bedside table.

Looking at his reflection, he was surprised to see red lip coloring on his mouth. At least, he hoped it was only lip coloring. He put the mirror back, then buried his head in his pillow. He wasn't ready to face the day yet.

~O~

_Teinaava, Antoinetta, M'raaj-Dar and Vicente made their way back to the abandoned house. Teinaava _

_supported Vicente as they walked, and Antoinetta had to practically drag M'raaj-Dar._

_When they made it back to the underground sanctuary, M'raaj-Dar and Antoinetta stopped at the living quarters. Antoinetta tried to steer the drunken Khajiit towards the door, but he resisted._

"_Hold on, one lasht ting." He let go of Antoinetta, and stumbled over to where Teinaava was standing, still supporting Vicente. He gave the vampire a big wet, red kiss on the cheek before announcing, "I'm ready for bed!"_

_Nearly falling over, he made his way back to Antoinetta, then, wrapping his arm around her, he said, "Lead the way, dear sister."_

_Antoinetta giggled before calling good night over her shoulder. _

_Vicente was laughing, and Teinaava couldn't help but chuckle. He rather hoped that neither of them remembered that in the morning. He walked Vicente back to his room, which was easier said than done. _

_He sat Vicente down on his bed, and started to help him get the ale-soaked shirt off._

"_By Sithis, I'm tired." Vicente said._

"_Yes, I imagine you are." Teinaava said, tossing the alcohol-sodden garment into the corner. "Get some rest, you'll need it."_

_With that, Teinaava left._

~X~

Teinaava, M'raaj-Dar, Vicente, and Antoinetta all sat at the kitchen table. None of them spoke.

All of them, save Teinaava, were still miserably hung-over and hoping they hadn't done anything to embarrass themselves the night before.

Teinaava smiled, chuckling a bit. They all looked up at him.

"What was it like to kiss a vampire?" He asked M'raaj-Dar. The Khajiit looked slightly alarmed.

"What?" He asked, hoping he'd heard that wrong.

Teinaava originally had hoped they wouldn't remember, yet, it was too good not to remember. He couldn't help but wonder if blackmailing a fellow member of the Dark Brotherhood would break one of the five tenets.

Deciding not to say anything more, he tried to suppress his widening grin, replying, "never mind."

Vicente and M'raaj-Dar looked at each other, eyes growing wide. Pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit into place, for both of them.

M'raaj-Dar hadn't bothered to wipe off the remaining lip coloring before he left the living quarters, but now he wished he had.

Antoinetta looked between the two of them, then at Teinaava. Seeing the look on his face, she started laughing. It hurt her head, but she couldn't stop.

M'raaj-Dar looked down, holding his head in his hand.

"Oh, sweet Night Mother."

~X~X~X~X~X~

_**Keep in mind, I do love reviews!**_


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